BUDAPEST ZOO AND BOTANICAL GARDEN, PAVILION FOR THE NATIONAL BONSAI COLLECTION 1998
The Japanese Garden of the Zoo was opened at the end of the 60s for the public; in 1998, a pavilion was built in the garden to house the National Bonsai Collection. The collection exhibited here includes the twenty valuable trees given as presents by the Japanese-Hungarian Friendship Society of Aichi Prefecture, as well as pieces donated by the University Bonsai Club of Hungary.
In authentic Japanese gardens, bonsai are not sheltered in a pavilion; therefore, the structure built here to protect them lacks the usual characteristics of a building: it resembles mostly a bamboo grove, growing among the trees of a park. The frameless, curved glass wall winding between the pillars gives protection from incautious visitors. The background wall and the small, staggered tables follow the traditional display forms. A wooden structure on the lower level of the foliage of the surrounding trees provides appropriate shading for the tiny trees.
The Bonsai Pavilion received the Piranesi Award in 1998.
Peter Kis, Balazs Szlabey, Peter Nyitrai, Ervin Kiss
Photo by: Edina Lisztes
The Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden was opened for the public in 1866, and has undergone two dramatic changeovers during the last hundred years. From 1907 to 1912, the completely outdated facility was fundamentally reconstructed; then, after nearly 90 years of “use”, a longer process has started: over an about 25-years period, the Garden had been almost completely renovated, upgraded, and reconstructed according to modern zoo standards.
In the comprehensive renewal program, several architect studios were commissioned for the different projects; our studio’s first task was to prepare the plans for the Katta Monkey House in fall 1993. This first commission was followed by a number of increasingly complex tasks: after designing several pavilions, reconstructions, and renewals, we had the opportunity to prepare the reconstruction plans of the Great Rock, and the plans for the intended Zoological Museum in the interior of the rock. The reconstruction and expansion works of the zoo buildings received the ICOMOS Prize in 2009.
Over this 20-years cooperation period, our studio has prepared reconstruction and renovation plans, and original concepts and designs for the following projects:
